Roach infestation

sickpuppy

Maybe a little exaggerated but can anyone tell me how long roach have been in the irish river system.
I was fishing last week first time this year on a small tributary of the suck about the size of the dodder.
Holds some nice trout and thats what the river would be known for lovely limestone river with nice gravely bottom and deep pools along the lower stretches.

Fishing a worm in the pools on a float i got a nice run and hooked into what i thought was a nice trout a big dirty roach about a pound weight had devoured my worm, caught another about 10 ounces and had a few more pulls.
As a young lad fishing on the suck never caught a roach on a worm caught the odd bream so im wondering are they in the river system along time
maybe they were hybrids but were silver with red finns near sure were roach not skimmers.

The river has taken a hammering over the years with pollution poaching and now possibly vast competition for there food by roach the trout that is.

Any info on what roach introduced as an alien species would do to a trout system?

ironbluedun

Roach are in ireland a long time...one of the first books written on irish angling "The Practise of Angling" O Gorman 1855 refers to Roach and Tench recorded in the County Clare loughs around 1830, but records from that time are scant......so if O Gorman was right, and he probably was, the roach have been here a long time and now are very widespread...they are probably here much longer than that however they will compete with trout for food no doubt about that....but the roach do seem to be cyclical....trout will always prosper where competitors and predators are few in number…sadly a lot of our rivers and loughs have been infested by all sorts of invasive species….and more are to come.

davidk11811

Roach were in Nortern Ireland at the start and were not present in any Irish rivers or streams, rudd although are a native irish fish and are much like the roach. Roach are in most rivers today as they have huge reproduction. By the way what county are you from, I fish the suck very often and would love to know any spot for trout.

decdon

I had the same problem Sickpuppy.... If you look ar the thread i posted a couple of weeks ago called "Fly fishing on the river suck...Help!!" I since went back to the same sopt and i caught this little begger...:( I took them with a camera phone so hopefully you can make it out. I wouldn't mind finding a spot for trout on the suck if anybody is willing to help out with a bit of info as i do live near the mid suck area...:(

sickpuppy

decdon wrote: »

I had the same problem Sickpuppy.... If you look ar the thread i posted a couple of weeks ago called "Fly fishing on the river suck...Help!!" I since went back to the same sopt and i caught this little begger...:( I took them with a camera phone so hopefully you can make it out. I wouldn't mind finding a spot for trout on the suck if anybody is willing to help out with a bit of info as i do live near the mid suck area...:(

Im from Ballinasloe originally the rivers only 2 fields away flooded the home house last winter.
Not great at fly fishing and the few trout there seem very hard to get on the fly.
Was a nice hatch of mayflys last time i was out seemed only the swallows were taking them.
Have a nice pic of a 4pound 1 ounce trout i caught in 99 on the suck ona minnow had a half digested 7 inch roach in her belly aswell as tons of minnows.
The water is fierce low a slow as ive ever seen it at the moment and the river has not much cover so in coveringa rising trout youd be doing well not to be seen by said fish.

There is a nice lake lake locally stocked with brown and mostly rainbows average fish over apound and the sport has been very good with massive hatches of flys maybe be better than the river.

sickpuppy

davidk11811 wrote: »

Roach were in Nortern Ireland at the start and were not present in any Irish rivers or streams, rudd although are a native irish fish and are much like the roach. Roach are in most rivers today as they have huge reproduction. By the way what county are you from, I fish the suck very often and would love to know any spot for trout.

Galway but cross the river and im in Roscommon i think fishing exclusively for trout on the suck would be frustrating and abig challenge most fish ive got was from worming or spinning for pike and perch.

coolwings

Decdon: I think you had a rudd there and not a roach. The rudd take flies more readily and are richer colours.

davidk11811

Nice to see people fishing from Roscommon, I'm in search of trout on the riversuck aswell. I went up to Castlecoote on 3 diffent occasions and only ever caught perch, not a single trout even rise. It's supposed to be a trout sanctuary? Does anyone know if there's still trout there?

decdon

sickpuppy wrote: »

Im from Ballinasloe originally the rivers only 2 fields away flooded the home house last winter.
Not great at fly fishing and the few trout there seem very hard to get on the fly.
Was a nice hatch of mayflys last time i was out seemed only the swallows were taking them.
Have a nice pic of a 4pound 1 ounce trout i caught in 99 on the suck ona minnow had a half digested 7 inch roach in her belly aswell as tons of minnows.
The water is fierce low a slow as ive ever seen it at the moment and the river has not much cover so in coveringa rising trout youd be doing well not to be seen by said fish.

There is a nice lake lake locally stocked with brown and mostly rainbows average fish over apound and the sport has been very good with massive hatches of flys maybe be better than the river.

Sorry to hear bout the flooding, a lot of peolpe were badly affected in your home town, my heart went out to ye looking at the news.
well I'm not very goot at flyfishing either but every bit of pracice helps. It would be nice to have some where near to fish and make all the mistakes where no one can see...;). I think i know the lake you referenced, and i was there a few times last year and my first visit to it this year was last week. Caught 2 rainbows on the dryfly. Nice lake with good walkways and I never left it without catching a couple at least. Do you know the part of the river where the motorway crosses, down streem looked a bit like it would have a trout in it...???

decdon

davidk11811 wrote: »

Nice to see people fishing from Roscommon, I'm in search of trout on the riversuck aswell. I went up to Castlecoote on 3 diffent occasions and only ever caught perch, not a single trout even rise. It's supposed to be a trout sanctuary? Does anyone know if there's still trout there?

I might give it a go at Castlecoote some evening soon. I was further down streem at castlestrange bridge where i got the Rudd/Roach (I realy don't know the differance). I was also at another spot further down streem from Athleague with the same result. There have to be some where.....
well can only keep trying.

davidk11811

decdon wrote: »

I might give it a go at Castlecoote some evening soon. I was further down streem at castlestrange bridge where i got the Rudd/Roach (I realy don't know the differance). I was also at another spot further down streem from Athleague with the same result. There have to be some where.....
well can only keep trying.

If you wan't roach head down to donamon and go to where the decking is, Use a swimfeeder with maggot and preferably ground bait, you'll catch loads. I'm in search of trout though

EDIT-P.S the difference between rudd and roach is rudd are more often then not top feeders and will take flies often and have there eyes are a very red colour compared to the roaches oranger, also the dorsal fin is further back.

decdon

davidk11811 wrote: »

If you wan't roach head down to donamon and go to where the decking is, Use a swimfeeder with maggot and preferably ground bait, you'll catch loads. I'm in search of trout though

EDIT-P.S the difference between rudd and roach is rudd are more often then not top feeders and will take flies often and have there eyes are a very red colour compared to the roaches oranger, also the dorsal fin is further back.

it's Trout i'm after too.... i was just catching the rud where i was hoping there would be trout. I Know the place you said but I just never got into the coarse fishing even tho i have a bit of the gear and try it from time to time. Tks

davidk11811

Well make sure you tell if you find any along the suck, I'll make sure I tell you if I have any luck. You might enjoy a day at Strokestown river but only if you use a worm. Full of trout though.

sickpuppy

decdon wrote: »

Sorry to hear bout the flooding, a lot of peolpe were badly affected in your home town, my heart went out to ye looking at the news.
well I'm not very goot at flyfishing either but every bit of pracice helps. It would be nice to have some where near to fish and make all the mistakes where no one can see...;). I think i know the lake you referenced, and i was there a few times last year and my first visit to it this year was last week. Caught 2 rainbows on the dryfly. Nice lake with good walkways and I never left it without catching a couple at least. Do you know the part of the river where the motorway crosses, down streem looked a bit like it would have a trout in it...???

Ya beside the bridge used be called the mill as there was an old mill and down stream after about 500 metres the water is very deep and slow
about 2 miles down there used to be acrossing called rileys ford which was an ancient river crossing of rocks witha fast flow which flowed into lovely water and then a massive bend on the river
it was lie for salmon and i saw fish being caught there which was hard as its along way from the sea
unfortunately this was dredged to allow the suck be navigable to Ballinasloe with only a handful of boats using this waste of time i think.
The river could really do with some rain ill pm you the details of a spot or two
but obv no guarantees

flas

davidk11811 wrote: »

Well make sure you tell if you find any along the suck, I'll make sure I tell you if I have any luck. You might enjoy a day at Strokestown river but only if you use a worm. Full of trout though.

where is strokestown river if coming in from the longford side!?